Resources

In December 2019, Vital announced a JORC 2012-compliant resource for the Upper Zone at Nechalacho of 94.7 million tonnes at 1.46% TREO (total rare earth oxides) using a 0.1% Nd2O3 cut-off grade (25.2% NdPr).

Within this resource, the Tardiff Zones contains:

  • Measured Resource of 286,563T at 2.7% TREO at a 0.3% Nd2O3 cut-off grade (24.2% NdPr)
  • Indicated Resource of 1.6MT at 2.4% TREO at a 0.3% Nd2O3 cut-off grade at a 0.3% Nd2O3 cut-off grade (24.2% NdPr)
  • Inferred Resource of 1.3Mt at 2.2% TREO at a 0.3% Nd2O3 cut-off grade at a 0.3% Nd2O3 cut-off grade (24.2% NdPr)

Confidence Category		 Nd2O3 cut-off grade % Tonnage
Mt		 REO
%		 LREO

%

 HREO

%

 Nd2O3
%		 PR6O11
%		 NdPr:TREO
Measured 0.3 1.094 2.004 1.817 0.185 0.394 0.106 25.0
0.1 2.914 1.468 1.326 0.142 0.288 0.077 24.9
Indicated 0.3 6.246 1.928 1.762 0.166 0.380 0.102 25.0
0.1 14.662 1.508 1.372 0.137 0.295 0.080 24.9
Inferred 0.3 30.945 1.797 1.637 0.161 0.360 0.094 25.3
0.1 77.159 1.456 1.323 0.133 0.291 0.077 25.3
Measured, Indicated & Inferred 0.3 38.285 1.825 1.662 0.162 0.364 0.096 25.2
0.1 94.735 1.464 1.330 0.134 0.291 0.078 25.2

Table 1: Rare Earth Resources in the Upper Zone, Nechalacho deposit. Mineral Resource Estimation prepared in accordance with JORC 2012

Vital announced an updated JORC 2012 compliant resource for the North T Zone at Nechalacho in April 2020, confirming it as one of the highest grade rare earths projects in the world.

Resource Tonnes % LREO LREO tonnes
Measured 68,000 9.60 6,528
Indicated 33,000 7.80 2,574
Total 101,000 9.01 9,102

Table 2: JORC 2012 resource for the Bastnaesite Subzone of the North T deposit

Nechalacho’s North T Zone is a small, high-grade REO deposit about 2km north of the much larger Upper Zone. The North T Zone contains two distinct zones of REO mineralisation, a Bastnaesite Sub-zone near the surface with an underlying Xenotime Subzone. Vital Metals is considering the Bastnaesite Subzone in the North T Zone as a potential high-grade start-up operation.

Vital completed a 2019 drilling and resampling of historical drill core to define the limits of the Bastnaesite subzone. The 2019 program was successful in redefining the zone through the extension of LREO mineralisation to the limits of the Bastnaesite Subzone and has resulted in a resource model suitable for mining studies. The combination of the new drilling and the resampling of historical drill core has defined the limits of the North T Zone bastnasite mineralisation on a nominal 10m x 10m drill pattern.